PORT ANGELES – The Morse Creek curve improvements on U.S. Highway 101 are completed.
Construction crews working for the state Department of Transportation have finished building a raised median through much of the curve east of Port Angeles.
They will return to plant drought-resistant shrubs in the median in October, DOT said.
Construction began on the $3.6 million project in April. It caused traffic slowdowns with lane closures on the S curve from 8 p.m. until 7 a.m. Monday through Thursday during the work. No more closures are planned, the agency said.
A truck makes its way around a curve on a newly-divided section of U.S. Highway 101 on Saturday as the road descends into Morse Creek Valley east of Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
The lanes were narrowed from 12 feet to 11 feet and shoulders were shaved from 8 feet to 5 feet.
The speed limit was permanently reduced by 5 mph to 40 mph for the length of the curve.
A mile-long, landscaped median with a 6-inch curb was built from the top of the bend at East Kolonels Way near the Walmart exit east to the Deer Park exit off Highway 101.
It breaks at the bottom of the S-curve’s hill at Morse Creek where Cottonwood Lane exits Highway 101 to the south and Strait View Drive exits to the north before continuing to Deer Park Loop.
The “boulevard-style” design is intended to slow traffic and potentially reduce crossover collisions, DOT said.
A couple of letters to the editor have complained that the revamped route is no safer than it was.
Rep. Mike Chapman, D-Port Angeles, who worked to get the funding for the project on what he termed the most dangerous stretch on Highway 101 on the North Olympic Peninsula, said it is safer now.
“As a highly-rated safety project, I’m happy to see it completed finally,” he said in a text on Friday.
“DOT said this was the best design to maximize safety,” said Chapman, whose 24th District includes Clallam and Jefferson counties.
The design cost more than cement Jersey barriers would have and “that’s why I worked on a budget proviso to fund the project,” Chapman said.
The project was sparked by the June 21, 2018, traffic fatality of 19-year-old Sequim resident Brooke “Brookie” Bedinger.
Her eastbound motorcycle careened out of control and into the oncoming lane where Highway 101 crimps sharply at the bottom of the hilly dip at Morse Creek.
More than 250 crashes occurred at the curve between 2007 and 2019, including at least four fatal crashes, according to the State Patrol.
Bedinger’s was among seven motorcycle crashes in five years.
Kim Bedinger, Brooke Bedinger’s mother, could not be reached for comment on Friday or Saturday.
She and her family rallied community support behind lobbying the state Legislature to provide funding to make road improvements to prevent further collisions.
“I’m excited,” the Sequim resident said when it was announced construction would begin.
She and her family rallied community support behind lobbying the state Legislature to provide funding to make road improvements to prevent further collisions.
“When I first started fighting for it, I never thought it would happen this way,” Bedinger said in March.
“My main objective was to save lives.
“Brooke’s was one too many [to lose], in my opinion.”
________
Peninsula Daily News Senior Reporter Paul Gottlieb and Executive Editor Leah Leach contributed to this story.
